Whole Foods Market Inc. knows it’s expensive — or at least that it’s perceived to be — but it’s working on it.

The Austin-based grocer addressed the issue in its most recent quarterly financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We have worked very hard over the last couple of years to successfully improve our price image, particularly in perishables, and we are focused on improving our relative price positioning in the marketplace,” Whole Foods said in its May 17 SEC filing. “We are hopeful we can continue to strike the right balance between rising product costs and our retail pricing based on our contracts, distribution and tools to manage value.”

The term “Whole Paycheck” — used mockingly by many irked consumers to express how much it costs to shop at Whole Foods — and the image it represents are still out there, but much less so than they were a couple of years ago, said Bob Goldin, executive vice president at Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food industry research company.

Some complaints about cost are unfounded because Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM) does not compete directly on price on many items, Goldin said. For example, Whole Foods does not carry Heinz Tomato Ketchup due to its ingredients.

As part of Whole Foods’ efforts to improve perceptions about its prices, the company has been expanding its 365 Everyday Value private label line — usually the least expensive alternative on its shelves — to offer shoppers greater selection and more price points.

Whole Foods has also been promoting its sales and coupons, and customer response has been overwhelmingly positive, said Mark Dixon, Whole Foods’ southwest regional president.

The company has seen more coupon redemptions with each edition of the bimonthly Whole Deal booklet, and it has increased the number of copies in stores and expanded the program online to meet demand.

Additionally, “as the company gets bigger, we can do better volume buying and pass on the savings to consumers,” Dixon said.

California-based Trader Joe’s Co., Whole Foods’ chief competitor in many markets, is often seen as a lower-cost alternative. It’s about to build a store a couple of blocks away from Whole Foods’ flagship store in downtown Austin, but that isn’t expected to change much at the Whole Foods headquarters above the downtown store.

“Competition’s not new to us. Anyone who puts groceries on a shelf is competition,” Dixon said.

Trader Joe’s keeps its prices low by buying directly from manufacturers in large volume, bargaining hard and managing costs carefully, said Alison Mochizuki, Trader Joe’s director of public relations.

While each grocery chain has its own very passionate customer base, it won’t stop customers from shopping at the other store, Goldin said.

“Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s are the fastest-growing grocery chains. They push each other,” said Goldin, which is good for consumers.

Whole Foods has heard from customers that alternative price points are important, but they still want meaningful service and interaction in the process, Dixon said.

To that end, Whole Foods tends to have higher labor costs than other grocery stores. The flagship store on North Lamar Boulevard, for example, had to create a position for a full-time schedule writer to coordinate the schedules of more than 700 employees.

Whole Foods, which has more than 320 stores across the globe, remains one of the strongest grocers in the world, and it fared well during the recession.

Last quarter, the chain reported a record gross margin of 36 percent, although management said to expect an annual gross margin more on par with its historical range of 34 to 35 percent.

In comparison, most grocery chains have gross margins of 20 to 30 percent. For example, Safeway Inc., parent company of Randall’s Food Markets Inc., has a gross margin of 29.5 percent.